Duapa Africa, a social enterprise in China, is to organize a Ghana-China Economic and Cultural week festival to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the Novel Corona Virus.

The weeklong event on the theme "60 years of great friendship; building back stronger and better, a shared Ghana-China future beyond COVID-19," is aimed at strengthening the friendship between both countries.

A statement, signed by Mr Musah Frimpong, Founder, Duapa Africa and issued to the Ghana News Agency, said the activity scheduled for October 12 to 18, was filled with key online and offline activities across Ghana and China.

It said the event will throw light on the impact of the Ghana-China relationship on health, education, culture, arts and Tourism, Science and Technology, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

"Relationships that stand the test of time deserve celebration and acknowledgment, one of such relationship is the one between Ghana and China after both counties established democratic ties in 1960."

The release said the relationship had since deepened over the past six decades with various cooperation points exchanged between the two countries and had yielded fruitful achievements, especially under the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.
"Bilateral trade between Ghana and China has risen from less than $100m in 2000 to $6.7bn in 2017 and $7.25 billion in 2018. Ghana has an estimated 6,500 Ghanaians studying In China, making it African's number one supplier of international students in China."

It said the daily movement of goods and services, investments, and, especially people between Ghana and China had been severely hit by the pandemic whose remedy is not in sight, and as the global economy struggled to gain its feet amidst the pandemic, there was the need for deeper conversation and understanding of the situation and its socioeconomic impact amongst the two nations and how to strategically work out solutions to mitigate its negative impact.

The statement said that stakeholders and relevant bodies needed to have a common platform to build consciences and work together on short term solutions and layout strategies to address uncertainties in the medium or long term.
It said as an entity established and actively operating in both countries and committed to deepening the cooperation, especially through people-to-people exchanges, Duapa Africa was mobilizing various stakeholders event at the people-to-people level.

The statement said the event would, therefore, bring onboard thousands of Ghanaians and Chinese people, companies, organizations, universities, ministries, and government agencies and directly reach over 500,000 people through the various online and offline activities.

Some speakers for the event are Ministers of state, current and past ambassadors of Ghana to China, Chargé d'affaires, Embassy of China in Ghana, professionals from the private sector, universities, and organizations, among others.

It said participants would benefit from the series of activities that include health screening, startup competition, job fair, business to business matchmaking, cultural exchanges, and networking across Ghana and China.